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A new report by the UN climate panel says that, if we are to avert disaster, we must cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40 to 70 per cent by 2050, and to nearly zero by the end of this century, so as to limit the increase in average global temperatures to 2C.

However, in reality, despite policies to control them, average emissions rose by 2.2 per cent every year for the past decade, reaching what the new report calls “unprecedented levels.”

This disparity between what should be happening and what is actually happening is frustrating, even terrifying, for environmental activists.

In Canada, there is a huge disconnect between the level of action needed to dramatically reduce the risks of climate change and what is most politicians are proposing, says P.J. Partington, a senior analyst with the Pembina Institute, a think-tank that focuses on sustainable energy.

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“We are seeing more ideas being put into practice at the local and the provincial level,” he says. “But at the federal level there is disconnect in terms of challenges and what is presented as a solution.”

This latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, he says, clearly indicates we are headed in the wrong direction.

The IPCC released its third of three reports in Berlin on Sunday morning — this one focuses on solutions to the climate conundrum.

It calls for a dramatic shift from fossil fuels, like oil and coal, to renewable energy to avoid rising sea levels and an increase in storms, flooding, droughts and other extreme weather. It also says the output of renewable energy — like solar and wind power — must triple by mid-century.

The report notes that renewable energy technologies have improved in performance and in cost. (The report, for the first time, heavily emphasized renewable energy and its benefits.)

In a statement, Holz said this should be a stark reminder for Canadians that “the current path of the Harper government — to put all of our economic eggs in the tarsands basket — is not sustainable and that Canada is losing out on the benefits of a transition to a low-carbon economy.”

The IPCC report came out barely a day after Environment Canada quietly released its own report on emissions — from 1990 to 2012 — which said that the energy sector has surpassed transportation as the largest generator of gases causing climate change.

The report said oil and gas now accounts for one-quarter of the country’s emissions, edging out the transportation sector.

Energy sector emissions have soared since 1990 — about 70 per cent — due to crude oil and oilsands expansion, The Canadian Press reported. That is more than twice the growth rate of transportation-related emissions.

The electricity sector saw a decrease in emissions, the Environment Canada report said.

By 2020, the Conservatives, as part of the Copenhagen agreement, have agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 17 per cent from 2005 levels.

Environment Canada has already acknowledged that this goal will be missed by nearly one-third.

“The choices we make now determine our future,” said Keith Stewart, the climate and energy campaigner for Greenpeace. “The less we do, the more we suffer in the future.”

Instead of building around new oilsands mines and pipelines, all new investments should be directed toward energy efficiency and renewables, said Stewart.

“Our government to seems to think what is good for the oil industry is good for Canadians,” he said. “… the truth is what is in the interest of Canadians is being leaders in this transition to renewable energy because no one in the world has a better resource base than we do to produce power from wind, water and sun.”

Canada needs to make smart “investments for the future” that will rejuvenate the economy, he said.

On Keystone XL, the beleaguered pipeline proposed by TransCanada Corp., Stewart pointed out that the single project is part of a much bigger decision on whether we invest in renewables or fossil fuel infrastructure.

The IPCC, meanwhile, did not say who should do what in its 33-page summary, which, along with its two earlier reports in September and March, will lay the groundwork for negotiators from around the globe to work out a universal climate deal in Paris next year.

The first report, out in September, said that climate change was caused by human activity. It said that there more clear evidence of climate change and its causes.

The second one, released in Japan two weeks ago, focused on the impact of climate change and warned that global warming was already damaging crops, spreading diseases and increasing acidity in our oceans.

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